Thousands of Jakartans march for tourism promo

Urip Hudiono, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

About 7,000 Jakartans gathered in front of City Hall on Jl. Medan Merdeka Selatan, Central Jakarta, on Sunday at around 6:30 a.m. Nearby, several police officers stood guard and finally turned on their patrol car siren when the crowd began to stir and advance.

But any fears of a clash ensuing faded, as the crowd -- in their T-shirts emblazoned with slogans of "I Love Tourism" and "Enjoy Jakarta" -- were participants of a march held by the Jakarta chapter of the Indonesian Tourism Community (MPI) to commemorate International Tourism Day, which fell on Sept. 27. The officers were tourism police, escorting the event in patrol cars, as well as on horseback and bicycles.

The chapter chairwoman Herna P. Danuningrat said the event was held to help shake the capital's image as a city of riots and terrorist attacks, as well as to raise public awareness of the importance of the tourism industry.

"If we can regularly hold such events, Jakarta will be able to hold international events again," she said. "Combining it with sports activities as was done today can be a start for Indonesia's bid to host the Olympics."

Governor Sutiyoso, who officially started the walk from City Hall, called on the public to participate in promoting the city's tourism sector by providing a safe and comfortable environment for all.

From City Hall, the participants -- holding pink and blue balloons -- walked along Jl. Thamrin, singing Halo-Halo Bandung and other patriotic songs.

At the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle, the participants placed colorful posters expressing their hopes and wishes for the development of the country's tourism on five "trees of hope" provided by the organizers.

The five-kilometer walk turned back and ended at the Office of the State Minister for Culture and Tourism on Jl. Medan Merdeka Barat, with the crowd welcomed by a tanjidor (native Betawi orchestra) and ondel-ondel (giant effigies clad in Betawi costumes) performance and an exhibition of various traditional handicrafts.

Minister I Gede Ardika thanked all participants and expressed hope that the event would show that Indonesia -- particularly Jakarta -- was an ideal tourist destination.

The event was also marked by a cleanup drive, with organizers telling the crowd to throw any litter they have in the trash bags provided.

The event ended with a mass work-out and the drawing of the main door prize of return tickets to Bali for two.